Monday, February 27, 2012

At the Pennsylvania state indoor championships held at Penn State this weekend, Villanova signee Angel Piccarillo (Homer Center, PA) ran the fastest Pennsylvania girl's mile ever (indoor or outdoor), breaking the 1980 record set by Upper Dublin's Kim Gallagher. Piccirillo's time of 4:44.20 is the #1 prep time in the USA this year by almost 2 seconds, and the #9 all-time USA prep mile for girls. Her win at the State meet is Piccirillo's third consecutive Pennsylvania state mile championship. She won this one by a staggering 14 seconds, breaking former Villanova All-American Frances Koons' state meet record.

If that were not enough, Piccirillo doubled back on the same day to win the state championship at 3000 meters, running 9:53.79 -- the #10 prep time in the USA this year. Fellow Villanova signee Caitlin Bungo was 4th.

Running in Heat #2, which turned out to be the much faster of the two heats, Nicole Schappert found herself sitting pretty at the half-way mark of the USATF indoor nationals 1500 meters. The race went out slowly, and at the 700 meter mark, the field was still bunched. Nicole was in 4th, only .36 seconds behind eventual winner Jenny Simpson. The second half of the race, however, sped up dramatically and saw Nicole drop from 4th place to 10th. She finished in 4:29.97, well off her 4:17 PR. Inasmuch as heat #2 was much faster than heat #1, Nicole finished 12th overall, out of 20 competitors. Here are the merged results of the two heats.

Villanova signee Josh Lampron (pictured at center, above) continued his steady climb back to fitness after a fall 2011 injury by winning the Massachusetts all-state championship over 1000 meters. In so doing, he avenged a defeat to Joel Hubbard (above, right) in the 1000 on February 16 at the Massachusetts Independent Athletic Association (MIAA) division 2 meet. His 2:27.57 at that earlier meet places Lampron at #5 on the national prep performance list over that distance.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

In June of 1968, a mere three weeks before the Olympic Trails and with Jim Ryun seemingly too ill with mononucleosis to compete, Sports Illustrated tabbed Villanova's Dave Patrick (who had set the 880 yard world record in beating Ryun the year earlier) as the heir apparent among US milers. What developed over the next two months is well known (and can be reviewed in detail HERE): Patrick failed to make the US Olympic Team in a controversial two-trials format, and the heir apparent who did emerge was not Dave Patrick, but his Villanova teammate Marty Liquori. Here is the Sports Illustrated article on Patrick from June 3, 1968.

June 03, 1968

A Real Shot At Mexico City

With Jim Ryun sidelined by illness, the Olympic dreams of runners like Dave Patrick move into the realm of possibility. Last week at Modesto, Dave gave a small preview of things to come

Robert H. Boyle

The weather was warm but the wind was blowing last Saturday night in Modesto, and Dave Patrick (see cover), anchor man on Villanova's two-mile relay team, was pessimistic about breaking the world record of 7:16 set by the Soviet Union. "I know we can run a world record," Patrick said, "but everything has to be just right." Despite the wind, Villanova came close. Charlie Messenger started for the Wildcats and, after trailing in the first lap, passed the baton to Ian Hamilton with a five-yard lead. Hamilton gave Frank Murphy a 10-yard lead, and Patrick got a 20-yard head start on Tom Von Ruden, anchor for the strong Army team from Fort MacArthur. Patrick just about disappeared into the night on Von Ruden, winning by 50 yards. The time was 7:17.7, better than Villanova had ever run the distance before and the third best two-mile relay ever run. "I didn't think we were going that fast," Patrick said. "It's very hard to run a race like that after you have traveled across the country."

For Dave Patrick, a lot more traveling may be in order this Olympic year. One of several excellent middle-distance runners bunched behind Jim Ryun, Patrick is a possible competitor for the gold medal in the 1,500 meters, the so-called metric mile, this October in Mexico City. And while Patrick, or anyone, for that matter, is a long shot at the moment, anything can happen in the next five months.

This became dramatically evident last week when it was disclosed that Ryun had come down with mononucleosis. Ryun's physician ordered him to drop all training and prescribed a complete two-week rest. But he cautioned: "Mononucleosis is one of those things you are never certain about. You must wait and see. And hope." Ian Hamilton, Patrick's teammate, was even more pessimistic. He said, "I had it last year and I couldn't get rid of it. If you start to run again too soon, it takes longer to get over it. I couldn't do better than two minutes for the half mile."

At best, Ryun will come into the Olympic trials subpar. At worst, he will not be ready for the Olympics. In either case, it presents both opportunity and responsibility for Patrick, because of all the runners chasing Ryun—sick or well—he is the only man in the world to have beaten him in a serious race since August of 1965.

They have met three times. A year ago last winter Patrick beat Ryun in the half mile in Detroit, setting the world indoor record of 1:48.9. (Ryun had run the mile earlier in the evening.) This February, in Madison Square Garden. Ryun whipped Patrick in the mile. (Patrick was hindered by a hairline fracture in his right foot.) A few weeks ago in Fresno, Patrick anchored Villanova to victory over Kansas and Ryun in the two-mile relay. (Ryun made up 15 yards on Patrick, but the latter, who had been handed a 50-yard lead, was not pressed into going all out.)

Now 21—he will be 22 this August 14—Patrick was born in Baltimore and raised in Essex, a suburb. Because of his name and because he runs for Villanova. a Catholic college, Patrick is usually assumed to be an Irish Catholic. In actuality, he is a Protestant of English descent. His father is from North Carolina, and for the past 37 years has worked in a Bethlehem steel mill in Baltimore, where he is now a foreman.

As a youngster Patrick played baseball, football and basketball. When he was 15 and a sophomore at Kenwood High School he began running cross-country and then the mile upon the urging of his older brother. Leonard, then a half-miler at the University of Maryland. "My brother always told me that half-milers are a dime a dozen, but good milers are hard to find." Patrick says. In his senior year Patrick stepped on a horseshoe peg and rammed it into his left leg. The wound required 12 stitches and then became infected. "I didn't think I would run again," he says. "When I got over it, I favored the leg and then threw my hip out three times."

Three colleges, Maryland, Tennessee and Villanova, were after Patrick, and although he at first found the idea of a Catholic school somewhat strange, he selected Villanova because it was only 90 miles from home and, more importantly, because Jumbo Jim Elliott, the track coach, is "miles ahead of any other coach."

Villanova is run by the Augustinians, of whom the most famous or notorious, depending upon one's point of view, is Martin Luther. "Luther," says Jim Murray, the puckish sports publicity director, "dropped out to start the AFL. Now, after 400 years, we're working on a merger." Elliott, who is fast to agree with Patrick or anyone else that he is miles ahead of any other coach, is a peppery, voluble Irish-American. "Any damn boat I'm in is always rocking!" he exclaims, bursting into a loud laugh. Under his stern but beneficent hand, Villanova has compiled an impressive record in track; indeed, the college does not have room to display all the trophies the team has won. "Terrible!" complains Elliott. "Print that! I'm taken for granted!" Despite such talk, Elliott would never leave his alma mater, and he watches over his boys like a shrewd monsignor. He has a high regard for Patrick. "As good as Dave is as a runner," Elliott says, "he's going to be even more of a success in his life."

Unfortunately, Patrick's running career has, until recently, been hampered by injuries or illness. First he hurt a tendon in his ankle, then his tonsils became infected and then last winter he suffered the fracture in his foot. In between ailments he has shown flashes of genuine brilliance, such as his record half mile against Ryun. This year, his senior year, he was appointed captain of the track team. When Negro members talked of boycotting the important New York Athletic Club indoor meet, Elliott let Patrick and the team members decide what course to take. The team voted 16-0 by secret ballot not to go. "I know because I counted the votes," Patrick says. "There were two reasons. We thought the New York AC was doing itself an injustice by not letting Negroes in the organization. We also thought that we have such a great team feeling that we didn't want to take a chance and try to split any views. We function as a team, and we should go or not go as a team. We decided not to go. Although some athletes may excel more than others, the team feeling is what we strive for."

Patrick takes his beliefs very seriously. Although he was not formally raised in any denomination he became very much involved with the nationwide Campus Crusade for Christ in his junior year, when representatives of the Athletes in Action branch called upon him. "It seemed like it came right out of the blue, because I wasn't attending church or wasn't even thinking about Christ," he says. "Then these people came to me. It was a great event in my life. I feel that after I asked Christ in my life, I can feel more love. Not just between me and all the fellows on the Villanova track team, but for anybody I meet, even if they don't want to love me." Since joining the Campus Crusade for Christ, Patrick has spoken and given his testimony before other athletes, and last summer he worked as a supervisor in a reform school, where he held a track meet and gave away his own gold, silver and bronze medals to the winners. "I'd like to go back there," he says. "I'd like a chance to try to change the lives of those boys. They're mostly from broken homes, and they don't know where they are or where they're going."

Patrick received a B.S. degree in business administration this May, but he will continue to train at Villanova for the Olympic trials June 29 and 30. He loves the Main Line area, and in the mornings he runs various training loops of from four to 10 miles. His favorite is the 10-mile loop, nicknamed the frolic loop. "I named it the frolic loop," Patrick says, "because every time I run it I run it to enjoy myself and to have a good time. If I feel like walking, I'll stop and walk. I'll stop by the duck pond and look at the ducks for a while. Once we were running along, and I saw this big log on the side of the road. I picked it up over my head and dropped it. About 15 white mice came running out! I thought they were rats attacking me. Sometimes on this big loop, Frank Murphy [a miler from Ireland] and I stop to feed the goats, just to have a good time. There's this one house with this big backyard, and they have two goats. This is up a gigantic hill, over half a mile up, and a lot of guys in cross-country run it for hill work. We stop at apple trees and eat the apples. It's great. We love it. That's what makes it really fun, you know. When you can run and have fun, that's it. There are two golf courses around here, too, and we run by the golfers hollering 'Fore!' but they don't care, we have permission. At a lot of places, if people see a guy running, they'll say ha, ha, make wisecracks. Around here they know we're on Villanova's track team, and they just look at you wondering who you are. We go by a cow pasture, through the country, by gigantic trees, big estates on the left and right. You just enjoy yourself. It's nice running through the country up and down hills."

If anything, Patrick is realistic about evaluating his own abilities as a runner. "To be a good miler," he says, "you need endurance, speed and strength. You can be a great half-miler with just speed. You can also be a great half-miler with a lot of endurance and just a little speed. But to become a good miler you've got to have endurance and the speed, and you've got to have that kick coming off the last turn. I haven't had a season where I've been able to train properly, especially in the field of speed work. I feel that I am strong enough and have enough endurance for the mile, and I do have a fair amount of speed. But speed can be enhanced by doing a lot of speed work, a lot of repeat 100-yard dashes, 150-yard dashes. This is where Mr. Elliott and I think that if I get a lot of this down, I'll be able to improve myself and really get my time down to, well, where to I hope it will go. And I don't know where it's going to go to. I don't know how good I can be because I haven't been able to run a season well, where I haven't been troubled by an injury or sickness. One of the indications that good things are coming is that when I ran 3:58 at Quantico a few weeks ago I was just thinking about running for the team and winning, not running a spectacular time. I hadn't been working out that much. I hope now that when I really start buckling down, running six miles in the morning and running my intervals in the afternoon, that I can bring my time down. I hope to hit some kind of a peak at the Olympic trials, and after that taper down and start doing longer stuff and building up my strength again a little bit because I'll have 3 months before the Olympics in October."

Patrick and Jumbo Elliott are fairly certain that Patrick will go for the 1,500 meters instead of the 800 meters in the Olympic trials. Patrick himself is optimistic about his chances in the 1,500 meters, because it is almost 120 yards shorter than the mile. "I think the shorter distance helps me, because I can start my kick a little earlier," he says. "I consider myself more or less a half-miler and miler, so the 1,500 meters is in between. I like the 1,500 meters better than the mile because I feel that I have a lot more speed and endurance. Anything over a mile I wouldn't like to run because I don't consider myself a miler-two miler."

As Elliott sees it, Patrick is about "90% ready" for the trials. A couple of weeks ago Patrick and Frank Murphy wanted to run a sub-four-minute mile in a triangular meet so that Murphy could get a qualifying time for the Irish team. The day before the meet Elliott told both boys to ease off, and Patrick breezed to a win in 4:02.2. Elliott says, "I don't want him to extend himself, because he's got a lot of good miles to go."

If wishing could make it so, Elliott would give the Olympic gold medal to Patrick, but things are not that easy. " Jim Ryun is the greatest middle-distance runner we've ever seen," says Jumbo. "Dave can be very good, but it would be putting a monkey on the boy's back right now to say he's going to win the gold medal. It's a tough haul, but conceivably he can do it. Anything can happen in five months time. I can visualize Dave winning the 1,500 meters in Mexico." Jumbo Elliott is not a man to toss words around lightly. Before Patrick beat Ryun in the half mile, Jumbo predicted that he would. "I knew that Dave was going to win because I knew that he was a better runner than Ryun indoors," Jumbo says. "Dave gets more out of indoor board running than Jim Ryun does."

Patrick recognizes the task before him. " Ryun has speed, he has endurance, he has everything," he says. "To say that he's devoid of strength or speed would be ironic. That's like saying the sun's not shining right. But I hope and pray, I'm praying now, that in the months to come I can just turn into something more than what I am now." And then Patrick adds, "When you're a youngster in high school, you dream of running in college. When you're in college you dream of setting records. But then there's the Olympics. You always dream of winning in the Olympics."

Friday, February 24, 2012

It was 31 years ago this week when Eamonn Coghlan became an Irish storm, when he ran beyond the hype … by a mile.

Magic was done on the Sports Arena boards on Feb. 21, 1981, and if you were there and didn’t hear the thunder and weren’t blinded by the lightning, if your palms weren’t wet and goose bumps jumping, you were not of this earth. As it was, on that night, this son of Ireland seemed all alone on it.

I’ve been on this newspaper for 40 years, which accounts for so many memories being stored, some put away back in the stacks, a few closer to the window. But when I’m asked to name my greatest sporting moment on San Diego turf, I don’t have to rifle through my card catalog.

I was with the Chargers in Green Bay when Steve Garvey hit the home run. I saw it live on TV in a hotel room, but it wasn’t the same as being there, because those who were have said Qualcomm Stadium hadn’t rocked like that before or since.

There have been so many memorable Chargers games, the 1994 playoff win here over Miami being near the top (the great 1981 playoff win over the Dolphins doesn’t apply). BYU’s stunning, 11th-hour comeback over SMU in the 1980 Holiday Bowl probably was the greatest football game I’ve seen in person. I didn’t attend Ali-Norton. Tiger Woods’ U.S. Open win at Torrey Pines was dramatic and magnificent. There was UCLA’s semifinal win over Louisville in the 1975 Final Four. So many more wonderful moments.

But, for me, nothing tops the night of Coghlan’s mile on the Sports Arena boards during the Jack-in-the-Box Indoor Games. It was electrifying. He blew the roof off the joint. If you had never seen a track and field event in your life, even if you were the losers’ parents, you had to feel what it’s like to be a page in history.

If you’re new to this area or too young to remember, track and field once was a huge deal here. Major meets in Balboa Stadium provided many national and international outdoor highlights. But, for whatever reason, the 11-laps-to-the-mile boards in the Sports Arena were the fastest in the world (other venues tried to copy them, to no avail), so promoter Al Franken had no problems enticing the best distance runners in the world, Coghlan, John Walker, Filbert Bayi, Henry Rono, Dick Quax, Steve Scott, Steve Prefontaine and on and on.

I saw Rono forget his start time, jump out of the arena stands, pull off his sweat clothes and run the second-fastest 2-mile in history. I saw master showman Prefontaine play the crowd like a mandolin in the 2-mile, just days after he sat on my office desk for an interview, and not long before he was killed in an automobile accident.

But nothing compared to Eamonn’s mile. At the arena in 1979, he had set the world indoor mile record of 3:52.6. By the time he returned to San Diego — Coghlan and his family always spent a great deal of time here before the meet — a world record wasn’t just a thought, it was expected.

"I’m chilled out watching television at a place we always rented on Ocean Front Walk,” Coghlan, 59, is saying over the phone from Dublin, where he now is an Ireland senator. “It’s 6 o’clock and Steve Scott is being interviewed on the news. He says he’s going to kick my butt and make me eat the track. I’m watching this and I wasn’t running until 10 o’clock that night. Good luck, Steve. I never had a doubt I was going to break the world record.”

And so he did. Coghlan’s body and running style were perfectly suited for the indoor boards. He didn’t just break the record. He obliterated it, running 3:50.6, off by himself after rabbit Tiny Kane led the group through a furious pace.

“I was a man on a mission,” Coghlan says. “Tiny Kane had been my mate at Villanova and he came down from Oregon to take the pace for me. I was 100 percent certain he would do the job and he did. I had a number of great nights in Madison Square Garden, but San Diego was like another home for me, and the crowd was great, expecting a world record. After the 1980 Olympics, when I was sick as a dog and finished fourth in the 5,000, I really wanted that record and Al set up a strong field. The crowd was looking for me to run under 3:50. I was disappointed I didn’t go under the magical barrier.”

That would come two years later in the New Jersey Meadowlands, when he ran 3:49.78. But that was on a 10-laps-to-the-mile track. Indoor records never are considered “official,” but anyone worth his stopwatch knows that 11-lap records are preferred over 10.

“It’s absolutely harder to run on an 11-laps-to-the-mile track,” he says. “Those tracks are gone now; they run on Tartan tracks with huge straightaways. People don’t have any idea what it was like to run on the boards; no clue.

“I was 5-10, 140, with a low center of gravity. I loved running the tight turns, and the banks in San Diego were steeper than any in North America. You were propelled down the straightaway and I really excelled on the turns.”

He’s a senator now, been one since Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny nominated him in May. But he has that memory.

“I was fortunate to be a part of that era,” he says. “Now, there’s less drama and more money.”

Looking back, the “Chairman of the Boards” says: “I’ll take the drama.”

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Former Villanova All-American Nicole Schappert, now running for NYAC, will compete in the 1500 meters at this weekend's USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Times with an asterisk indicate a mile, not 1500, time.

On February 12th, Caitlin Bungo (Sewickley Academy in Sewickley, PA) signed on to run for Gina Procaccio at Villanova. Bungo was 16th at Pennsylvania State Cross Country championships, 1:14 behind the individual state champion, fellow Villanova signee Angel Piccirillo (who is mentioned prominently in the article below). Bungo currently has the following PRs:

"They really don't seem to have much in common, but that's where I visited and I liked them all for different reasons," said Bungo, a senior at Sewickley Academy and a track and cross country standout for the Panthers.

"Oh my gosh, I didn't think it would be so hard [to make a decision]. There are just so many great schools out there. I just tried to focus on what I thought was important."

She ultimately decided to continue her running career at Villanova, which has a long history of producing All-American runners.

Bungo, who won the WPIAL [western Pennsylvania regional] Class AA cross country title in the fall, was recruited by Villanova coach Gina Procaccio as a middle-distance runner.

She won the 800-meter run in Class AA at the WPIAL track championships last year and was second in the 1,600. At the PIAA meet, she placed third in Class AA in the 1,600 and 10th in the 800.

"I really enjoyed the team and just felt comfortable there," she said when asked about what sold her on Villanova. "I got to meet and sit down with the coach and she told me she tries to keep things relaxed because everyone performs better when they're relaxed."

With her college decision out of the way -- Bungo verbally committed earlier in the month -- she was able to concentrate on running well at the Tri-State Track and Field Coaches Association Indoor Championships, which she did.

The indoor meet was held this past Saturday at Edinboro University and Bungo finished first in the 800-meter run and fourth in the mile. She edged North Hills senior Margo Malone in the 800, finishing in 2 minutes, 21.6 seconds. Malone ran 2:21.8.

In the mile, Bungo finished in 5:07.8. Homer Center senior Angel Piccirillo, who is also a Villanova recruit, was first in an outstanding time of 4:54.83. Malone was second at 5:04.4 with Norwin's Autumn Greba third in 5:05.81. Mary Malone, Margo's younger sister and North Hills teammate, was sixth in 5:11.68.

"I was happy with how I ran," said Bungo when asked about the indoor championships. "I had a [personal record] in the mile, so I was happy about that and winning the 800 against Margo was great. I've been trying to get under 2:20 in the 800 but haven't been able to do it yet and that's been a little frustrating. Hopefully, that will happen."

Bungo will compete in the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association state championship meet Saturday at Penn State University's multi-purpose indoor facility. She is entered in only the 3,000-meter run and is seeded 11th with a time of 10:34.34. Piccirillo is seeded first at 10:06.20.

"I haven't run the 3,000 that much and I wanted to do it to see what I could do," she said. "I just wanted to run one race there. That seemed like enough."

Bungo had an opportunity to talk with future teammate Piccirillo at the TSTCA indoor championships this past weekend. She said she will keep an eye on Piccirillo's times during the outdoor track season that will get underway in late March.

"It was good to meet her and we're both excited about going to Villanova. It will be great to be on the same team as her," Bungo said.

She added that it is a relief to have her college decision out of the way.

"I can just go out and focus on getting some PRs. I'd like to get under 5 minutes in the mile and under that 2:20 in the 800," Bungo said. "I'm happy with my decision and knowing where I'll be next year."

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Villanova signee Kelsey Margey (Long Island, NY) will compete in the invitational girls mile at the Brooks PR Invitational. The meet will take place on February 26th in Seattle (at the University of Washington's over-sized track) and will be streamed live on FloTrack. Here's the start list for the race.

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Villanova men and women's teams acquitted themselves well at the Big East Indoor Championship meet over the weekend; the women were third and the men fourth in the team standings. Several things became clear as the meet progressed:

(1) Sam Ellison is a monster. First, even though he did not win the 500 meter dash, Ellison ran 1:01.17 - faster than reigning Olympic 400 meter gold medalist LaShawn Merritt ran that distance on the same track a week ago. It took an world-leading time and collegiate record to beat him. He then anchored the men's 4 x 800 meter relay squad and unleashed a late ferocious kick to split 1:49 and win the conference title for the Villanova men. Only a sophomore, the next 2.5 years of Sam Ellison should be fun to watch.

(2) Emily Lipari really does have good closing speed (but we already know that). The shortest runner in every race she's in, Lipari's kick is really devastating and has to be demoralizing to her competitors. Lipari won the 1000 meters over the weekend and anchored the women's 4 x 800 relay in a similar fashion -- maintain contact with the leaders until 200 meters to go, and then employ the extra gear to catapult herself to the lead. She split a super 2:05.8 over 800 meters in the DMR on Saturday. Also only a sophomore, there's a very high ceiling on her future accomplishments.

(3) Bogdana Mimic is the least ballyhooed great runner in recent Villanova history. Running for years in the sizable shadows of Sheila Reid and, to a lesser extent, Amanda Marino, Mimic has quietly put together multiple All-American performances, conference championships, and NCAA finals. She won the 5000 meters title this weekend. Her career is reminiscent of that of Ryan Hayden, who played Robin to Adrian Blincoe's Batman in the previous decade.

(4) Sam McEntee -- already a 3:57 miler before his 20th birthday -- has great versatility, from 800 meters to 5000 meters to 10K cross country. He's been on campus only 14 months and is already a key pillar of the team. He split 1:51 on the third leg of the 4 x 800, giving Villanova and Sam Ellison a chance to overtake the Notre Dame anchor, and ran a close second to defending Big East champion (and 2011 NCAA 1500 meter finalist) Jeremy Rae in the mile. McEntee is one of only 10 men in the NCAA with an automatic qualifier in the mile for the NCAA indoor championship meet.

5) Villanova has plenty of milers. The men qualified four -- Sam McEntee, Joe LoRusso, Dan Harris, and Alex Tully -- for the Big East mile final. Not to mention the additional five men who qualified for the mile, but ran in other races. As for the women, six qualified for the conference meet in the mile. Stephanie Schappert took third in the final, with Nicky Akande seventh. The Villanova women's best miler -- Emily Lipari -- didn't even compete at that distance, going instead to the 1000 meters, which she won. All told, Villanova qualified 15 milers for the Big East championship meet.

Villanova freshman Stephanie Schappert entered this weekend's Big East Indoor Championships meet as the 34th fastest conference miler, and had the 4th fastest mile time on her own team. She qualified for the mile final on Saturday with the 11th best preliminary time of 4:54.50. Yet she emerged from the meet as an All Big East performer and made the podium with a third place finish in the final and a new mile PR of 4:48.90. Aside from the performance of Georgetown's Emily Infeld, who ran to a solo victory well ahead of the rest of the field, the rest of the women seemed to concede the race to Infeld and run strategically for the other top spots. That strategy played well into Schappert's strengths as an 800 meter runner and she was able to charge home for third.

Well, the "glass half full" version of this Big East mile championship race is that Sam McEntee improved his 2011 Big East mile finish from 6th (4:10.61) last year to a close second (4:05.92) this year. The "glass half empty" part of the story, however, is that McEntee learned the same lesson absorbed last year by Matt Gibney: it's not very easy to run down Notre Dame's Jeremy Rae. Rae, the defending conference champion indoors, was shadowed by McEntee throughout the race, but McEntee could not get past Rae on the final lap. As in last year's race, when Rae beat Gibney by .36 seconds, Rae created separation from McEntee and had just enough turnover to keep the Villanova sophomore at bay. This time McEntee made a serious move off the final turn, but Rae -- an NCAA 1500 meter finalist outdoors in 2011 -- subtly moved out to lane 2 to thwart the effort, beating McEntee by .44 seconds. Villanova travels to Notre Dame in two weekends, providing McEntee a chance at revenge.

Joe LoRusso was 7th, Alex Tully 11th, and Danny Harris 12th, as Villanova qualified four men for the mile final.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Showing middle distance depth on both sides of the team, both the Villanova men and women used sparkling anchor legs to come from behind to win Big East titles in the 4 x 800 meters.

On the men's side, Sam Ellison took the baton 2 seconds in arrears to the Notre Dame anchor, Randall Babb. Ellison stayed in contact for 600 meters before unleashing a devastating kick to lead Villanova to the win. Sam McEntee, doubling back from a second-place finish in the mile, ran a clutch third leg to bring Villanova from fourth to second at the start of the anchor leg. The relay splits for the men were Brian Tetreault (1:53.6), Chris FitzSimons (1:53.1), Sam McEntee (1:51.4) and Sam Ellison (1:49.4).

A similar story unfolded for the women's quartet. Notre Dame led throughout, and Emily Lipari got the last handoff in third place. She quickly got on the heels of Notre Dame's Rebecca Tracy. Lipari sat on Tracy until the final lap and showed her customary closing speed in passing Tracy for the win. The Villanova women split this way: Stephanie Schappert (2:11.5), Nicky Akande (2:07.6), Ariann Neutts (2:10.6), and Emily Lipari (2:08.7), for a time of 8:38.55.

Sophomore Emily Lipari won her first individual conference title this morning, winning the 1000 meters handily in 2:46.94. Lipari crushed her previous 1000 PR (2:49.06) by over two seconds, coming from 3rd or 4th place through 800 meters Her teammate Ariann Neutts ran from the front for much of the race and finished fourth, two seconds back. Combined they scored 15 team points for the women.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

In day 1 results from the Big East Indoor Championships at the Armory in New York, Villanova's Hugo Beamish led a 1-2 Villanova finish in the men's 5000 meters, winning in 14:06.40. In winning, Beamish defended his 2011 5000 meter conference title. It was Beamish's first race of the season and, as the video shows, he owed teammate Ryan Sheridan a debt for doing much of the work from the front. Sheridan and Beamish separated themselves from the chase pack earlier on and methodically went about their business. Sheridan towed Beamish all the way past the 4000 meter mark before Beamish went by at with 520 meters to go to win his second consecutive Big East Indoor 5000 title (he won last year in 14:16.11). Ryan Sheridan was second in 14:10.73. Matt Kane added another team point, in finishing eighth. On the women's side, Bogdana Mimic won a duel to the tape with Providence's Laura Nagel, winning 16:25.53 to 16:25.81. In other noteworthy developments, the women's DMR squad of Courtney Chapman (3:30.4), Faith Dismuke (57.2), Emily Lipari (2:05.8), and Nicky Akande (4:39.9) took second, while the men's DMR -- Chris O'Sullivan (3:01), Bryan Murphy (48.6), Brian Tetreault (1:53.1), and Mathew Mildenhall (4:06.4) -- took third. Women's pole vaulter Alex Wasik (3.95 m) took second place, with Mel Meggiolaro (3.60 m) and Kathleen McPhillips (3.60 m) tied for 7th. Kathleen Petruzzelis finished 8th in the pentathlon, providing a team point for the women's squad. Finally, senior Frank Anuszewski finished third in the weight throw after his 61' 6.75" throw.

Villanova is set up quite nicely for tomorrow's finals, after some nice performances today in the preliminary rounds. The men qualified 4 finalists in the 12-man mile finals: Sam McEntee (4:10.9), Alex Tully (4:12.14), Joe LoRusso (4:13.11), and Danny Harris (4:13.14). For the women, Nicky Akande (4:47.54 PR) and Stephanie Schappert (4:54.50) also advanced to the finals of the mile. Both Ariann Neutts (2:51.39) and Emily Lipari (2:53.47) ran well and advanced to the finals in the 1000 meters. In the men's 1000, Brian Tetreault won his heat in 2:29.61 and advanced. He'll be joined there by Dusty Solis, who ran 2:27.22 in the prelims. Sam Ellison ran a PR 1:01.81 in the 500 meters and easily advanced to the final. Christie Verdier advanced to the 400 meter final and Shericka Ward qualified for both the 60 meter hurdle and 200 meter finals. In the 800 meters, Chris FitzSimons won his heat in 1:54.12 and will run in tomorrow's final. In the women's 800, Leann Tucker and Erin Ryan both advanced to the finals. Here are the results of the two events that crowned Big East titles for Beamish and Mimic.